March 27, 2007 - I have always envied John Travolta. Not so much in the ladies' man department, but he has some of the smoothest dancing the Milky Way. Come later this year, ol' John Travolta had best watch out for my sidestepping feet. At least, that is the idea. Electronic Arts is unleashing their first game designed specifically with moves this side of the Wii in mind. If you are a dancer, or a dancer at heart, but are too "amazing" to display your funky fresh moves on the dance floor, then read on and feel the wiggle in your toes as you begin to tap with anticipation.

It is unknown what the story behind the game will be, or even if there is one. Maybe the main purpose of the game is to get down to the groovy tunes. It has been a while since we have had a game that was just about the mindless beauty of the art of dance. The screenshots show a fun-loving character, who looks like the disco era relative of the funky alien Earl, from Toejam and Earl fame. Judging solely on the screenshots, the graphics look fresh and sleek. The characters look so good that it is surprising that Boogie will also allow you to create your own character to step it out on the floor. I hope that the custom created characters will look this good too. In addition to the individual characters looking good, the environments and atmosphere look equally great. The fresh unique style already present in the game will have people lining up for this interesting game.

Boogie will use the Nunchuk and the Wii-mote in unison. The Wii-mote will be represented by a pair of eyes on the screen, much like the pointers of other games already on the Wii. These "eyes" will guide the upper half of your character to the beats of the music. The Nunchuk will control the lower half of the character. The directions in which you rotate your controllers will determine the dance move you perform. It is not known exactly what dance moves will be included into the game, but there have been a few displayed like the Hustle, the Turkish Twist, and even the fabled Cabbage Patch. There could even be a possibility of mimicking your other favorite dance moves, so John Travolta needs to watch out with his Saturday Night Fever moves.

The interesting thing about the game so far is that it does not seem to work in the same way other rhythm based games work. For example, it appears that instead of being required to match the beat exactly, we will be able to move in our own way with the beat. Of course, if you get closer to the actual beat of the song, your score will grow quicker and be better than if you are just moving with the music. To assist those of us that do not know the exact steps to take to pull a funky dope maneuver, an onscreen prompt will pop up to give us specific instructions to pull off the moves.

In addition to the dance floor groove, Boogie will also feature a capability for you to create your own music video. It is not entirely known how this will become a reality, but we are certain that this will be as entertaining as the main events. EA has also said that there will be some microphone capabilities in Boogie. Unfortunately, when Boogie was first displayed, this feature was not presented. More than likely this singing aspect to the game will have more meaning in the music video creation area of the game. Therefore, the judges are still out on this one. Boogie is also being toted as a party game; rest assured that there will be modes that will focus on dancing and probably modes that excel in the vocalization of our talents.

Even though there is not a whole lot known about the game, Boogie has enough dance in one finger to get you jazzed about getting jiggy with it. Despite the sub-par technical sides to the game, it certainly has enough originality to cause hours of hysterics and serious dance-offs in your own home. EA will go into further detail about the game as the completion and release date get closer. Be sure to check back with us at CCC for the latest groovy details of this booty shaking game.

By
Matthew Walker
CCC Project Coordinator

Features:

Create your own custom dancer to break it down.

Use the Wii-mote and Nunchuk in unison to delivered some of dopest moves on the planet.

Create a music video of your funky dance moves and stellar singing voice.